What was your most amazing dive experience?

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I enjoy diving with big stuff like Manta and Whaleshark.

But the on that top my list is when I was introduced to macro/muck diving.
When I learn 'the other world' of diving and discover how bizzare and fascinating the creatures in places as dull as you thought it can be.
I never look back and pick up photography as hobby because of that.
 
Any top tips for how to approach learning this? I totally understand what you're saying but aside from seeing 'stuff' (ok, not quite so crude) I still feel very much ignorant of my environment. Books? Talking to people? Just curious.

For me, recognize what type fish and it's name only holds up for a short time. I need more, to know what I am seeing means.
  • Experience. We have a very cool looking fish here, the Moorish Idol. I was thrilled for some time seeing them until learning I have probably a 90% chance of seeing them any dive. This does not lessen their intrigue but open me for what, how and where can I look for the next 'wonder'.
  • Books. My reference collections reflect decades of interests and are #1 vice. Hoover and Randall have vastly improved with more detail. Male or female; how to tell. If it changes; when and from what to what, multiple pictures of variations. When, where and how likely am I to see this? Or get a real bang out of getting to and enjoying it for as long as I can cuz it's not gonna happen often.
  • Yes talking to people, attending presentations, picking their brains. I recently attended a presentation by Hoover focusing on mating behaviors. Fascinated, recognizing I had seen many of these things, and wondered what the heck it meant. Did it mean anything?
  • Stop and hang around a while to see what happens at a very slow pace, is barely discernable, interrelates, interacts. Look in the nooks and crannies, places that seem empty at first glance. Look for; why would they benefit, what is the purpose?
  • Pay attention. Notice I keep seeing what might be pairs. Any way to tell they are the same pair? Look for some reason usually there are random numbers then sometimes a gazillion. Look for what that, or, all those fish seem to find so interesting.
  • Follow the critter ID forum. Some even I know but often the discussion is enlightening. There are people here that really know their critters. Had I not, I'd probably still be getting pecked to death by a trigger fish I thought liked me.
  • Figure out how to search online. Just don't get too dismayed if we apparently don't know much about something. It too is worthwhile and most often I wander off along another tack just by looking.
  • Try something different. My most amazing experience was leaving the main ring front row and center to hang out in the nosebleed section. An extraordinary encounter with the same creatures in a vastly different situation.
  • And last but not least, don't be afraid to ask questions. I've had the delight of seeing a fish I could not identify. The first turned out to be a remarkable pattern change from silver with bright colored lines to dull grey and white polka dots no one seems to think worth mentioning. I e-mailed a source learning not only the same fish, but why it changes. Next time, able to test it and right before my eyes transform it back and forth. Another I could not identify other than not supposed to be here, obviously that was not it. By the time this came up in conversation it was far too late for those extremely interested. I regret being too shy to suggest I, a lowly Noob, had a novel sighting, and missed the opportunity to pick the brains of a number of people looking for it again.
 
I've had too many amazing dive experiences to call any one of them "most" ... but among the top of the list would have to be my encounter with a sea lion while scootering with some friends ...

YouTube - 3 + 1 at Alki Reef

... and the dive I did in Komodo that culminated in this photo ...

CIMG1677.jpg


... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
Any top tips for how to approach learning this? I totally understand what you're saying but aside from seeing 'stuff' (ok, not quite so crude) I still feel very much ignorant of my environment. Books? Talking to people? Just curious.

It depends on your environment, but in general the thing that has helped me the most is to just ask questions. If you see something on a dive, and you are puzzled, try to find out what it was. Ask the people you are diving with, the captain, or the DM. They know the answer most of the time.

If you're a reef diver, you're not going to learn all the fish at once. Whenever you see an interesting fish, etc. just remember it, and find out what it is. Make notes. Look it up later in a Fish Book. Learn how it behaves. Try to be able to consistently ID it, and find it in different stages of development. Watch it, and see how it behaves. See what environment it likes to live in, and what other critters you usually see around it. In time you will start to make associations, like "Hey, there's a lot of sand stirred up over there. Let's investigate-Oh, it's a stingray digging out lunch." or "hey, a bunch of crab shells, I wonder if an octopus nest is close by."

If you like wrecks, just learn all you can about the wreck by reading up ahead of time. In time you learn things just from listening to the boat talk. Find an interesting feature, and just ask later on what it is. I like Great Lakes wrecks, so I read up on Great Lakes History. Learning about the different locks, etc. gives a good background on why you see so many ships of a certain era that standard dimensions, etc. (to fit through the locks).

Then there is also the comfort part. I can't feel at home unless I've got my buoyancy, etc down, and I feel relaxed. That just takes practice and time.

HTH,
Tom
 
Any top tips for how to approach learning this? I totally understand what you're saying but aside from seeing 'stuff' (ok, not quite so crude) I still feel very much ignorant of my environment. Books? Talking to people? Just curious.

Upon the recommendation of many good people here I bought:
Amazon.com: The Reef Set: Reef Fish, Reef Creature and Reef Coral (3 Volumes): Paul Humann, Ned DeLoach: Books
3 books include Reef Fish, Reef Creature and Reef Coral. Easy to use to identify fish, coral and other (such as shell fish and the like). I also bought at the same time Amazon.com: Reef Fish Behavior: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas: Paul Humann, Ned DeLoach: Books
Reef fish behavior.
I can't recall if I bought it form Amazon or e-bay. But where ever I bought it and whatever I paid, it was worth it!
 
Freediving on the Oceanside of Eleuthra in the Bahamas. Very few days allow you to do this. It beats anything. (This was back when I could do 70' easily on a breath)

A reef so beautiful.
 
Being a newbie it's all pretty amazing to me right now- please share some stories of your most amazing dive experiences.

Jess

I have the same experience with nearly every dive - discovery of peace, oneness with the universe, and the joy of weightlessness. No wonder that I am addicted to this.
 
Cenote diving in the Yucatan.

I spent part of my youth in the southern US. I spend many weekends with my parents and sister walking through the tourist caves, oogling at the colorful and varied cave formations. To float by the same formations in crystal clear water in the Yucatan just left me totally awestruck.
 
Most amazing dive experience:

Visiting the Blue Abyss in Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich. Went in via Cenote Pet Cemetary with twin 80s and an AL80 stage, two line jumps and an hour later we were there. Giant room about 80 feet across and 240 feet deep (although I maxed out at 97 feet). The upper 80 feet were heavily decorated with monumental columns, and 40-foot tall stalactites.
 
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